Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash
Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash is a six-issue comic book limited series that was released in November 2007 and ran until March 2008. It was published by Wildstorm, Dynamite Entertainment, and DC Comics. Based on the original Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash film treatment by Jeff Katz, the story serves as a sequel to Freddy vs. Jason and ''The Evil Dead'' trilogy. The comic book series was written by James Kuhoric and illustrated by Jason Craig. Plot Summary Five years after the events of the film Freddy vs Jason , the town of Forrest Green (formerly Crystal Lake) has opened a new Super-Ultra-Mega S-Mart shopping center. It’s the Christmas season and the official town naming ceremony is planned to be part of the holiday festivities; an effort for the town to rid itself of its deadly reputation in time for the New Year. Lori Campbell and Will Rollins, (the survivors from Freddy vs. Jason), return to Camp Crystal Lake for closure and confirmation that both Freddy and Jason are dead. While investigating the scene, they split up while looking around. Lori eventually finds Will dead, after he had been gutted by Jason. Jason eventually kills Lori by splitting her head open with his machete. Afterwards, Jason takes their bodies to his mother’s shack in the woods, which holds the severed heads of Pamela Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. Freddy, who has been trapped in Jason’s subconscious mind since his defeat in Freddy vs. Jason, learns of the Necronomicon ex Mortis (the Book of the Dead) from Jason’s memory. The long lost book was last seen in the old Voorhees home. Once again disguising himself as Pamela Voorhees's lover Freddy manipulates Jason into getting the book, promising to make him a “real boy” if he can deliver the demonic book to Krueger. Unbeknownst to Jason however, Freddy has another agenda for the book’s knowledge. While Jason lumbers his way back to his old home, he notices the newly arrived “Housewares Domestic Engineer” walking into S-Mart : Ash Williams. Ash, drawn by the Necronomicon, has arrived in Forrest Green to destroy the book once and for all. As Ash walks up to the S-Mart entrance, he manages to hit on three young girls who pass him by. The manager of S-Mart meets Ash at the door, escorting him in and detailing the work that needs to be done in time for Christmas. Jason, who had been watching Ash from the nearby trees, engages the three girls Ash was hitting on and kills them. An old woman near the scene sees Jason and screams. Inside the S-Mart, the manger introduces Ash to the teenage staff in the housewares department, only to have Ash run out of the store when the scream is heard. Ash questions the old lady on what had happened, but her only response was, “Jason.” Later, after the police depart, Ash recounts his experiences with the Deadites to the teenagers. They laugh him off, thinking him old and crazy. When Ash goes on break, one of the teens named Caroline questions him further about the Deadites, and later recounts the legend of Jason Voorhees. Ash, taken back by the story, believes Jason is a Deadite and must have the Necronomicon. Meanwhile, Jason continues his way to his old house and happens upon a group of carolers. As the group begins practicing, they are quickly slaughtered by the masked murderer. Later on, as Ash’s shift is about to end, an attractive girl named Bree introduces herself and suckers him into purchasing overnight goods for her and her friends. One of the friends explains they are going to stay the night in the old Voorhees house before the city tears it down. The group leaves Ash in the dust after he loads their supplies, laughing all the way. When they arrive at the Voorhees house, the group pair off, not noticing Jason watching them from an outside window. Ash, who followed the group to the old Voorhees home, breaks into the basement and finds the Necronomicon. While Ash uncovers the Book of the Dead, Jason slays the teens upstairs, leaving Bree the only survivor. Ash, summoned upstairs by the commotion, meets up with Bree, only to have Jason bearing down on him. After a brief skirmish, which leaves Jason unfazed, Ash and Bree flee the house with Jason in pursuit. As Ash and Bree flee from Jason’s deadly grasp, both are saved by Caroline, who followed Ash to the Voorhees house. Ash instructs Caroline to drive them back to the S-Mart, so he can decipher the Necronomicon and come up with a plan on how to proceed. Freddy, enraged at Jason losing the book, picks (literally) through Jason’s memory and finds a brief glimpse of Ash’s S-Mart nametag. Freddy instructs Jason to go back to S-Mart and retrieve the book. Meanwhile, Ash, Bree and Caroline arrive back at S-Mart and have little time to plan before Jason walks in the store. Jason begins to slaughter customers and staff alike (ala the Freddy vs. Jason party scene), until Ash confronts him with chainsaw and shotgun in hand. The battle between the two is short, with Jason tossing Ash aside, and then later throwing him through a wall. Caroline tries to intervene, but is easily discarded. Bree, mentally unstable from the night’s horrors, tries to escape with the Necronomicon, but is quickly killed by Jason. With the Book of the Dead now in his possession, Jason leaves the scene and returns to his shrine in the woods. After arriving, he turns Freddy’s severed head toward the propped up book. In the dreamscape, Freddy is able to decipher the necessary resurrection spell and escapes from Jason’s mind, returning to reality. Now free, Freddy attempts to leave, but Jason stops him, remembering their agreement. Freddy makes good on his promise, using the book to grant Jason “some intelligence.” Later, Ash, Caroline, and the few surviving teens from the store, retreat to Caroline’s parent’s house to make a plan on how to get the book back. When the group decides to get some sleep, Ash volunteers to keep guard, only to fall asleep himself. He awakens in the cabin from Evil Dead, with his normal hand intact, only to have it mutate with Freddy’s blades. Ash, thinking he is back at the cabin from Evil Dead, strikes out to find the chainsaw in the cabin’s shed. Once found, he cuts off his Freddy infected hand. As he sits and gloats about defeating the Deadites at their own game, he suddenly remembers he has done this before and must be dreaming. As he comes to this conclusion, Freddy Krueger makes himself known. He explains to Ash that he will be keeping the Necronomicon, and unveils a shelf full of Freddy infected hands waiting to strike out at Ash. Before the hands attack him, Ash uses the barrel of his recently used shotgun to trigger himself awake. When he awakens, he finds a burn mark on the wrist where the barrel touched him. Ash, piecing together what happens in the dream happens in real life, wakes the kids before Freddy can get to them. Unfortunately, he is too late for one of the teens, as the kid’s sleeping body is crushed by Krueger. Freddy, proud of his recent kill, returns to Jason’s subconscious and orders Jason to find and kill Ash. Meanwhile, Ash, Caroline, and the few surviving teens plan to take back the Necronomicon; Ash believes he can use its passages to eliminate both Freddy and Jason. After breaking into the S-Mart for supplies, the group returns to the old Voorhees house for the book. Ash, now carrying an upgraded chainsaw, ventures into the house, while the kids stay outside and try to lure Jason out of hiding and into an explosive trap. The kids manage to get Jason’s attention, but he doesn’t fall for their ploy – his new intelligence at work. While the kids confront Jason, Ash finds the book (again) in the basement of the house. As he reaches to collect the book, Freddy comes up from behind and stabs him in the shoulder. Freddy, standing over the wounded Ash, explains he has read enough of the Necronomicon to take dominion over reality, to bring nightmares to the waking world. As Ash tries to escape, Freddy summons the Freddy hands from Ash’s dream and uses them to pin Ash against the wall. While the energies of the Necronomicon flow around Krueger, Jason senses something is wrong and breaks onto the scene looking to stop Freddy. Freddy, in retaliation, summons the ghosts of Jason’s victims to rise up and destroy him. Jason, now in the resurrected hands of his dead victims, fights to break free from their grasp. Freddy watches, and amused, summons one of Ash’s “Freddy” hands to drive Jason’s machete through his chest. Jason eventually breaks free and pulls the machete out, leaving him weakened on the floor. Freddy then turns his attention back to the Necronomicon, only to find it and Ash missing. Enraged, he shouts out at Ash. Meanwhile, Ash has managed to escape the Voorhees house and into the woods with the book. After running into a clearing, he is attacked by Deadite possessed trees and crows. Freddy, now able to manipulate reality, used Ash’s memories to bring out the Deadite force. After eating crow, Ash uses his chainsaw to free himself from the assault and meets back up with Caroline, who is the lone survivor of Jason’s earlier attack. Ash informs Caroline of the book’s ability to open a portal, which could be used to send Freddy and Jason to the Deadite’s dimension for all eternity. As they discuss their options, the book flips open, revealing a young Pamela Voorhees using the book to resurrect her dead son. Ash, annoyed, hands the book over to Caroline, telling her to find the correct incantation for the portal. Just as she begins, Freddy’s face appears in the clouds above, prompting the two to flee back to the Voorhees house for shelter. When they arrive, they look back and notice the Voorhees house is no longer there, but rather, the house at 1428 Elm Street. Three little girls in white dresses are jump roping out front, singing Freddy’s familiar nursery rhyme. Ash warns the little girls to run, but is soon attacked by the demonized children. While Ash is tied up with the three girls, Freddy opens the front door and grabs Caroline, dragging her in the house. Ash quickly uses his chainsaw to cut down the kids and rushes after her. Inside, Freddy threatens Caroline to hand over the book, just as Jason bursts back onto the scene. Freddy uses pieces of the house against Jason, effectively battering him to a standstill. With Freddy’s attention turned toward Jason, Caroline attempts to utter the words to open the portal. Jason however, realizing what she is doing, reaches over and snatches the book. Ash arrives moments after, and blasts Jason pointblank in the head with his gun, revealing Jason’s disfigured face. Unrelenting, Ash chops off Jason’s hand with the chainsaw, freeing the Necronomicon. Jason, mimicking Ash’s chainsaw hand, takes his machete and shoves it, blade out, in his bloody stump. Caroline promptly escapes the house with the book, while Ash and Jason square off. Jason quickly brushes Ash aside, throwing him through one of the front windows, out of the house. With Ash out of the way, Jason engages Freddy. As the two villains battle, the house collapses upon them. Caroline tries frantically to wake up an unconscious Ash, as Freddy slowly emerges from the rubble of the demolished Voorhees house. Forced to make a run for it alone, Caroline escapes to a nearby fishing shack and hides with the Necronomicon. Freddy, furious at Caroline for taking “his” book, starts destroying the neighboring shacks in an effort to locate her. Eventually, her position is revealed and Freddy takes the book from her. Just as Freddy takes hold of the book however, Jason appears on the scene, and is quickly subdued by Freddy. Freddy gloats over his victory, but is soon sent flying through the air by Ash’s car, driven by the now awake Ash. Ash emerges and takes on the two villains. While all three battle each other, Caroline opens the disregarded Necronomicon and manages to find the needed passage to open a portal to the Deadite dimension. She reads the correct incantation and a gigantic portal opens above Crystal Lake, sucking up everything near it. Ash and Caroline grab hold of a tree, while Freddy (who is nearest to the portal) is drawn in by the vortex. Jason, unfazed by the portal, approaches Ash and is about to deliver a killing blow, when Ash’s car is picked up by the storm and slams into him, sending him crashing in Crystal Lake’s icy waters. In the chaos, Caroline loses the Necronomicon, which flies through the air and into Freddy’s eager hands. Freddy promptly tries to locate the correct incantation to to fix “this travesty”, but quickly loses the book to the portal. Enraged, he is sucked up soon after, which causes the portal to immediately close. Afterward, Ash and Caroline leave Crystal Lake, with Ash content that events “are over.” Later, the portal opens again and drops the Necronomicon on the frozen lake. Underneath the ice, Jason opens his eye. Sequel On November 2008, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors was announced to be in the planning stages with James Kuhoric and Jason Craig returning to write and illustrate, respectively. The story picks up where the last left off, and it will feature cameos of known characters from the previous Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street films. [http://www.newsarama.com/comics/030918-FVJVA2.html Back to Crystal Lake with Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash 2], Comic Book Resources, March 18, 2009 References External links *[http://www.fangoria.com/news_article.php?id=4830 Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash promo comics art!], Fangoria, August 20, 2007 *[http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=135602 Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash #1], Newsarama, November 7, 2007 *Directors' Commentary: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 and #6, Newsarama *[http://nightmareonelmstreetfilms.com/nightmarecomicbooks5.html Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash cover archive] Next In The Army of Darkness Series * Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash: The Nightmare Warriors Category:Army of Darkness comics Category:Crossover comics Category:Comics